Tag Archives: it

My iPod #497: Stevie Wonder – He’s Misstra Know-It-All

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“He’s Misstra Know-It-All” closes Stevie Wonder’s seminal album Innvervisions. Preceded by tracks concerning racial tension, drug abuse and love ballads, the song is essentially a description of a man who gains people’s trust only to let them down, is a straight-up liar, only cares about subjects where there is money involved – whether he gains it or loses it, it doesn’t matter – and overall is someone that many people should avoid. The track is said to be about then President of the USA, Richard Nixon.

Despite the scathing lyrics describing this awful human being (I assume the femininisation of Mister to Miss-tra only emphasises Wonder’s disregard for this person), the song’s music itself is some of the calmest on the album. It is a wonderful five and a half minutes of piano, smooth chugging drums and Wonder’s voice along with some backing vocals that you have to nod your head back and forth to in appreciation. That is before the change up at around three minutes where Mr. Wonder begins to deliver his take with a greater passion (signified by an emphatic “BUM-BUUUHNA-BUUUHNA” ad-lib, hand-claps enter the mix, the rhythm sections play around with the rhythm here and there, and a stronger feel to the song’s groove and mood is brought about.

A real classic. Too good.

My iPod #492: The Streets – Has It Come to This?

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“Has It Come to This?” was the first single from Original Pirate Material, the debut album from 2002 by English rapper Mike Skinner under the alias The Streets. Emerging from the UK garage scene that occurred during the late 90s, the tracks on the album deal with everyday occurrences and relatable issues such as love, getting drunk, and going out and manage to capture those little moments that many young people go through. The album was, and still is loved, to this day thanks to Skinner’s delivery, humour, observational lyricism and good beats.

“Has It Come to This” is the second track on the album after Skinner starts things off with brutal confidence on “Turn the Page”, and it is on it that the observational lyricism that runs throughout the entire album really begins. With calming vibes and a chilled piano sample, the song is Skinner’s invitation to the listener to sit back, relax and enjoy the album whilst also giving us a wealth of information about himself and what he sees around him on a daily basis.

Constantly reminding us of his name and album title in the choruses Mike Skinner demands us to get acquainted with what you are about to experience. This was only the beginning.

My iPod #412: OK Go – Get Over It

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“Get Over It” was the first single OK Go released as a band in 2002. And what a way to introduce yourselves. The track is fun as hell and catchy as anything, and gives a lesson concerning ‘getting over’ the silly little things in life that shouldn’t really matter. It’s one of the most poppy tracks the band have ever done before changing to a more indie-rock style for “Oh No”.

It wasn’t until 2006 that I began listening to OK Go, so when I decided to look them up on the web and saw that they “Get Over It” had actually done quite well in the UK (it got to #16, which ain’t too shabby) I thought why not see what the song and video’s like. Maybe I had seen it before, and just forgotten about the track as time went on. It turned out that I had in fact not heard the song before.

The video is just as fun too. This is before the band went out to try out spectacular record-breaking stuff in their music videos, and instead just focuses on them playing the track as the camera zooms in to random objects that are mentioned in the lyrics. And ping-pong occurs for about 3 seconds. Damian Kulash, Jr. also looks very, very young in it, even though he was about 26/27.

My iPod #373: Queens of the Stone Age – First It Giveth

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“No One Knows” and “Go with the Flow” all got their relatively big-budget videos, so I was a bit disappointed when seeing the one for “First It Giveth” for the first time. It’s one of those ‘band-on-tour’ montage things. But it does include some hilarious clips of Josh Homme jumping into a drum kit, wiggling his butt in front of a sleeping Mark Lanegan and Nick Oliveri swinging his bass around whilst naked on stage. Funny as those are, a cooler video would have been fun too.

“First It Giveth” is third in what are some killer opening tracks to Queens of the Stone Age’s third album “Songs for the Deaf”. After the shrieks and velocity provided in “Millionaire” and signature song “No One Knows” you wouldn’t think that the sheer level of consistency could be maintained. But when the faux-Spanish radio interlude that follows “No One Knows” ends, “First It Giveth”‘s drums enter immediately and you realise just what you’re in for.

Couldn’t tell you what the track’s about. It’s just very good. And dark. All the guitars play the same phrases and lines in unison throughout the track which is awesome. There is no time allowed for you to catch your breath except for one part that comes before the second verse, and even then that is interrupted as the track continues its momentum. By the end, even Homme gives a wayward sigh when he finishes singing.

Not a bad track at all.

My iPod #217: Guttermouth – Cram It Up Your Ass

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Um…. Okay, I know this looks bad…. let me explain.

“Cram It Up Your Ass……. really? What the fuck.” That may be one of the thoughts that may have come to mind when you first saw the title. If you have come to this from my Twitter page, you may be even more confused and surprised. I couldn’t put a song title like that on my feed; people wouldn’t even want to click on the link otherwise.

Enough about that. “Cram It Up Your Ass” is the closer to Guttermouth’s first major release “Covered with Ants” and is one of the funniest songs I have ever listened to. And one of the creepiest.

The only reason I know of this song is because all I wanted to do, when I was ten and playing Tony Hawk on the PS2, was find and listen to “I’m Destroying the World” on the computer for minutes on end. However I could never do that; I always had to listen to thirty second samples instead on random music sites. Whenever it said ‘download’, the link would take me to a place where I had to pay… I’m not about that life.

“Cram It Up Your Ass” is on the same album as “Destroying the World”, and the title looked interesting so I decided to hear it’s sample. Nothing much happened, as you can tell. Just the lead singer singing the title over a bass that was playing the vocal melody. No big deal.

That was until, years later, I found out that it turns into a proper headbanger where all the guitars play the vocal melody in unison with frenetic drums rolling around all over the place. The dynamics are a very key part of this song. The last lines “Do you still like me?” are sung when the instruments come to a sudden stop, leaving the singer all alone. That part freaks me out a bit.

It doesn’t end there. After a few seconds of silence, a bloody grand piano comes in and plays the vocal melody over and over again for five minutes or so! I don’t know. I cut that bit out though, that part is unnecessary.

How could I even write so much about this track.